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I was around 11 and my cousin was 13, the guy was 14-15 (can’t remember). My first cousins and I grew up together; we saw each other all the time, hung out at each others’ houses during the summer, and apparently had crushes on the same guy…

He was one of the kids from my cousin’s neighbourhood who would hang out with us. This was back in the day, when kids played outside without fear! We used to play hide-and-seek before we were called to dinner. I remember one day I begged to be let out at night with my cousins, just to play hide-and-seek and dodgeball on the streets with them —because it was so hardcore to play those games at 10 pm. I miss those days!

Anyway, yes we liked the same guy and it was good; there was no competition. As a matter of fact, I clearly remember one day when we both went into my aunt’s room and put on make up and sprayed gallons of perfume, just to impress him. He was my male cousin’s best friend at the time, and we were grateful for this, because that meant he would visit every time we were there (we waited by the window like snails glued on a wall). There was non-stop drooling, and that was helpful, because my aunt never had to worry about washing the floors.

Long story short, she ended up going out with him a couple of times, because she was closer to his age. I reconnected with him on Facebook a couple of years ago, and it brought good memories (I’m not attracted to him anymore). Unfortunately, we lost communication again. But, my relatives still love to tease me and my cousin about it. It’s funny, because I thought we were subtle about us crushing over him, but I guess not.

When I was little I’d stay at my cousin’s house for part of the summer. Most of my cousins were older than me, so there were things I wasn’t allowed to do (for example, I had an earlier curfew), but that didn’t stop them from asking for my help when they needed it —I never said no, even though they used to steal my candy.

It was a sunny day and I had finished getting ready to go out with my cousin. She stepped in the shower and while I waited, I watched TV. I didn’t hear any commotion, but all of a sudden I heard a voice calling me. It was a low voice, so at first I thought I was just crazy or it was the show I was watching, but it wasn’t until I answer to said voice that I realized it was my cousin calling from the bathroom. She wasn’t calling for help, per se, but she sounded like she had done something she shouldn’t have done. As soon as I opened the door, I saw it, the shower curtain rod had fallen after my cousin grabbed the towel that was hanging from it. I wish I could show what her face looked like. She shook her head sideways while she tried to say ‘oops.’ It was kind of like this, except with a more guilty look:

This is Chapter 3 of a series I started a while back, where I tell a story from my childhood and find similarities to who I am today.

Prankster

You know by now that I used to…fine, I still am, but not as much…be a hyper girl. I kept myself busy, recited poetry in front of relatives, teased my sister, and of course played pranks on others. I wasn’t a mean prankster or anything, I meant no harm, I just wanted to tease.

I did the prank calls, scared my friends, the coin on the ground prank, etc. One that I will never forget is the gum prank I played on my older cousin. I filled gum with non-toxic (because that somehow makes it less evil) ink and brought it with me to his house. He was my target, because he used to tease me, and I wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine (remember, I was young). I offered him gum, but I told him not to swallow the juice — see? I wasn’t that bad — and he took the gum.

Soon after his sister and I started laughing, his mouth was covered in blue ink. He knew something wasn’t right, so he ran to the nearest mirror. He screamed and yelled for my uncle to come. I knew I was going to get in trouble. My uncle tried not to laugh when he saw him, and you won’t believe what he said, “Suck it up! It’s just a prank.” I was speechless, he was okay with it? Well, not entirely, he did told me not to do it again, but he heard of the prank and knew it wasn’t dangerous. I was content that my prank actually worked, and my cousin didn’t forgive me for a while, but we moved on.

Today, I still play pranks, but they’re pretty harmless. I like to prank my best friend into thinking her phone network is messed up, by sending her the same text message 20 times in a row. Sometimes, I even play pranks without even noticing. She loves monkeys like I love penguins (probably why we get along so well), and she has one on her room ceiling, just hanging around (I did not notice for a long time). One day we were on her computer and while I was waiting for her to finish, I looked up and saw the monkey, I literally screamed so loud that my friend thought I was dying. No joke. I laughed so hard after. It’s like I play pranks without even trying :p